Methods of staying vertical poles,masts and like structures and apparatus for use therewith



July 15, 1969 A. E. LUND 3, METHODS OF STAYING VERTICAL POLES, MASTS ANDLIKE STRUCTURES AND APPARATUS FOR USE THEREWITH Filed Feb. 8, 1967 asheets-sheet 1 ALFRED-flaw INVENTORI v ATTORNEY July 15, 1969 A. E. LUND3,455,081

- METHODS STAYING VERTICAL POLES, MASTS AND LIKE STRUC ES AND APPARATUSFOR USE THERE H Filed Feb. 8, 19s? heats-Sheet 2 ALF/E50 L, LangINVENTOR ATTORNEY July 15, 1969 A. E. LUND 3,455,081 METHODS OFS'IAYINGVERTICAL POLES, MASTS AND LIKE STRUCTURES AND APPARATUS FOR USETHEREWITH Filed Feb. 8, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 ALFRED. ELI/ lNVENTOR BY7M,

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,455,081 METHODS OF STAYING VERTICALPOLES, MASTS AND LIKE STRUCTURES AND APPARATUS FOR USE THEREWITH AlfredErnest Lund, Tilehurst, Reading, England, assignor to Her MajestysPostmaster General, London, England Filed Feb. 8, 1967, Ser. No. 614,655Claims priority, application Great Britain, Feb. 11, 1966, 6,160/ 66Int. Cl. E04h 12/22 US. Cl. 52-741 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Amethod of and apparatus for staying vertical poles using an anchoringhead for attaching a stay wire to a stay rod, the head being used inconjunction with a preformed wire grip for attachment to the stay wire,and the head containing a passageway therethrough for concealing thelower end of the stay wire after the staying process has been completed.

Background of the invention This invention relates to methods of stayingvertical poles, for example poles carrying overhead conductors, mastsand like structures, and to apparatus for use therewith.

Known techniques presently employed for staying poles use stay wireswhich are attached to anchoring devices by means of preformed wiregrips. Before being wrapped into the wire grip, the stay wire can betensioned by a tensioning device mounted upon the stay rod and attachedto the stay Wire by means of a by-pass tail, or, as disclosed in BritishPatent No. 858,830, by a tensioning device mounted on the stay wire andco-operating with first and second clamping members also mounted on thestay Wire. Apart from the bulkiness of the tensioning apparatus in bothcases, the above methods are not entirely satisfactory in that, in thefirst case, the by-pass tail impedes the wrapping into the wire grip ofthe tensioned stay wire, and, in the second case, the complications ofthe tensioning arrangement necessitates the wire grip being wrappedround two lengths of the stay wire. In both cases cutting off of thesurplus stay wire always leaves an exposed sharp jagged end.

Summary of the invention It is an object of the present invention toprovide an improved method and apparatus for staying poles, masts andthe like structures which use more suitable tensioning means and do notrequire a by-pass tail for attaching the tensioning means to the staywire, the apparatus containing means for concealing the jagged lower endof the stay wire after the staying process has been completed.

Accordingly, such a method comprises the steps of:

(i) Attaching the one end of a stay wire to the structure to be stayed;

(ii) Passing the other end of the stay wire through a passageway in ahead at the upper end of an anchoring device, the head having a bodyportion with a longitudinal axis and an external surface, and saidpassageway having an entrance and an exit, the entrance of thepassageway being located at one end of the longitudinal axis of the bodyportion and the exit of the passageway being located in the externalsurface of the body portion at a position spaced along the surface ofthe body portion away from the entrance;

(iii) Tensioning the stay wire; and

'ice

(iv) Attaching the stay wire, whilst under tension, to the head.

Preferably the stay wire is attached to the head by means of a preformedwire grip which is wrapped round the stay wire whilst the stay wire isunder tension.

In one particular method embodying the invention, the tension in thestay wire is increased after the preformed wire grip is in positionround the stay wire to facilitate the cutting off of the excess staywire at a point which permits the cut end of the stay wire to be drawninto the passageway after the excess stay wire has been cut off.

A head for attaching a stay wire to a stay rod comprises a body portionhaving a longitudinal axis and an external surface; a transverse eyeformed through the body portion; and a passageway formed in the bodyportion, said passageway having an entrance and an exit; the entrance ofthe passageway located at one end of the longitudinal axis of the bodyportion and the exit of the passageway located on the external surfaceof the body portion at a position spaced along the external surface awayfrom the entrance. The spacing of the exit from the entrance is suchthat any substantial change in direction of the wire as it passesthrough the passageway is avoided.

The passageway is preferably straight with its longitudinal axisinclined to that of the body of the head at an angle lying within therange 0-45 (both limits included) and preferably within the range 15 -30(both limits included). When the head is in use, the entrance to thepassageway lies at the upper end of the longitudinal axis of the head.

In an embodiment of the invention, the passageway comprises first andsecond portions, the first portion lying along the longitudinal axis ofthe body portion between an end face of the body portion and thetransverse eye, and the second portion communicating with the firstportion and having its entrance on the interior surface of the part ofthe body portion surrounding the first portion ofthe passageway and itsexit on the external surface of the body portion at a position spacedalong the external surface away from the entrance.

The body portion of the head may be of elongated form, for example,substantially cylindrical with first and second end faces; and have atransverse eye formed through the body portion and positionedsubstantially midway between the end faces of the body portion; and apassageway formed in the body portion having its entrance positionedcentrally in the first end face of the body portion and its exit locatedon the curved wall of the body portion at a position spaced along thecurved wall of the body portion away from the entrance.

A preformed wire grip may be used to attach the stay wire to the head,in which case the surface portions of the body bounding the eye arecurved to receive the preformed wire grip.

The upper end of a stay rod may be rigidly attached to the body portion,convenient means for this rigid attachment being, for example, welding,screwing or bolting. Alternatively, the stay rod may be attached to thebody portion of the anchoring device by means permitting the head toswivel around the axis of the rod, such means being, for example, a rodwith an expanded head fitted through a hole in the second end face ofthe body portion at the other end of the longitudinal axis opposite tothe entrance of the passageway.

Brief description of the drawings By way of example only, embodiments ofthe invention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the swivel head,

FIG. 2 is a medial section through the swivel head of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of stay wire tensioning apparatus,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a part of a stay wire, swivel head, partof a stay rod. and stay wire tensioning apparatus,

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the swivel head of FIG. 1 with a staywire attached to it,

FIG. 6 is a medial section through a second embodiment of the swivelhead,

FIG. 7 is a side view of the swivel head of FIG. 6, and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the head with astay rod rigidly attached thereto.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring to FIGS. 1-5, theswivel head has a body 1 which is of generally cylindrical shape, an eye2 being formed transversely of the longitudinal axis of the body. Thecontour of the body above the eye 2 provides a curved thimble 3 intendedto receive a preformed wire grip, whilst below the eye is an axialpassageway 4 of circular transverse cross-section leading from the eyeand in which is located the upper end of a stay rod 6.

The swivel head has a further passageway 7 also of circular transversecross-section whose entrance 8 is located at the upper end of thelongitudinal axis of the swivel head at the upper end of the cylindricalbody 1. The exit 9 of the passageway 7 is located on the curved face ofthe cylindrical body 1 and is spaced along the surface of the bodyportion away from the entrance.

The overall length of the swivel head is 3% inches whilst the diameterof the head is 1 inches. The diameter of the passageway 4 is inch andthe length of the passageway is /2 inch. The diameter of the eye 2 isinch and the overall length about 1 /2 inches. The diameter of thepassageway 7 is about /2 inch. The dimensions just given are, of course,by way of example only and are suitable for a limited range of stay wireand rod sizes. Taller poles and masts may require larger diameter staywires and rods.

The procedure for staying a telegraph pole follows existing techniquesuntil the stage is reached at which it is normally necessary to tensiona stay wire before securing it to the upper end of a stay rod. At thatstage the following procedure is used.

A stay wire 10 is passed through passageway 7 and fixed to a suitabletensioning device of which one example is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The tensioning device comprises a curved metal grip 11 adapted to fitover the stay rod in the manner shown in FIG. 4 and to be secured inposition by a retaining pin 12. The grip 11 has a tensioning lever 13pivotally secured to it by means of a mounting pin 14.. Aspring-controlled pawl 15 on the lever 13 co-operates with a ratchetwheel 16 fixed to the pin 14 to hold the lever 13 in a particulartensioning position as will be clearer later. The lever 13 also mountsjaws to grip a stay wire during tensioning. The jaws comprise a wheel 17having a knurled gripping edge and a co-operating manually-operableeccentric 18.

After the stay wire 10 has been passed through passageway 7, the wire islocated between wheel 17 and eccentric 18 and the latter rotated to gripthe wire. The stay wire is taut before being clamped to the lever 13 toensure that a requisite tension can be applied before the lever 13reaches its limit of movement in the direction of arrow 19 (FIG. 4).Lever 13 is then rotated in the direction of the arrow 19 to tension thestay wire. When the required tension has been applied, the lever 13 isautomatically locked against return to its initial position by the pawland ratchet so that the stay wire is held under tension and can theneasily be secured to the swivel head by means of well known preformedwire grips such as 20 (F G. 5 The stay Wire tension i then increasedslightly 4 to move the loop 21 of the wire grip 20 away from the surfaceof the thimble 3 and the stay wire then cut flush with the surface ofthe swivel head adjacent the exit 9 of the passageway 7. The stay wire,on being cut, springs back slightly and the cut end is withdrawn intothe passageway 7 and is concealed.

The tensioning device is then removed and the procedure repeated for thenext stay wire.

It will be understood that other forms of stay wire tensioning devicecould be used and might be manually operated by levers or pulleys or insome other suitable way or the device might be hydraulically operated.

FIGS. 6 and 7 which have components similar to those of FIGS. 1-5similarly referenced, illustrate a second embodiment of the swivel head.In this embodiment, the passageway comprises first and second portions22 and 25. The first portion 22 has its entrance 23 in an end face ofthe body portion of the swivel head and is formed along the longitudinalaxis of the body portion to exit at 24 into the eye 2. The diameter ofthis portion of the passageway is so chosen that it is possible towithdraw therethrough the stay rod 6 and head 5, such that upsetting ofthe anchoring device is facilitated. The passageway is completed by thesecond portion 25 whose entrance is located as shown at 26 in FIG. 6 ata point in the first portion 22 of the passageway and whose exit 27 islocated on the curved surface of the body portion at a positiondisplaced along the surface of the body portion away from that of theentrance 23. The angle of the passageway 25 with the longitudinal axisof the body is again such that no substantial change in direction of thewire occurs as it passes through the head.

The same staying process as for the embodiment of FIGS. 1-5 is used.

FIG. 8 illustrates the embodiment of FIG. 1 with the stay rod 6 rigidlyattached to the body 1. This rigid attachment is achieved by a weldingprocess, although screwing or bolting together of the head of the stayrod and base of the body may be used to form the rigid jointtherebetween. These methods of rigid attachment can also be applied tothe embodiment of FIGS. 6 and 7.

I claim:

1. A method of staying poles, masts and like structures by means of ananchoring device having a head at the upper end thereof, the head havinga body portion with a longitudinal axis and an external surface, atransverse eye formed through the body portion, and a passageway withinthe body portion, the passageway having an entrance and an exit, theentrance of the passageway being located at one end of the longitudinalaxis of the body portion and the exit of the passageway being located inthe external surface of the body portion at a position spaced along thesurface of the body portion away from the entrance, the methodcomprising the steps of:

(i) attaching the one end of a stay wire to the structure to be stayed;

(ii) passing the other end of the stay wire through the passageway inthe head of the said anchoring device, said passageway being independentof the said transverse eye;

(iii) tensioning the stay wire, and

-(iv) attaching the stay wire, whilst under tension, to the head bymeans of a preformed wire grip passing through the transverse eye.

2. A method of staying poles, masts and like structures as claimed inclaim 1 in which the preformed wire grip is wrapped around the stay wirewhilst the stay wire is under tension, the tension then being increasedand the excess stay wire cut off at a point which permits the cut end ofthe stay wire to be drawn into the passageway on release of the saidincrease in tension.

3. A head for use in performing the method of claim 1, the headcomprising a body portion having a longitudinal axis and an externalsurface; a transverse eye formed through the body portion, a d a pass gay formed in the body portion, said passageway being independent of thesaid transverse eye, the passageway having an entrance and an exit, theentrance of the passageway being located at one end of the longitudinalaxis of the body portion and the exit of the passageway being located onthe external surface of the body portion at a position spaced along thesurface of the body portion away from the entrance.

4. A head as claimed in claim 3 in which the passageway is straight withits longitudinal axis inclined to that of the body portion of the headat an angle lying within the range 0-45 5. A head as claimed in claim 3in which the passageway is straight with its longtiudinal axis inclinedto that of the body portion at an angle lying within the range 15 30.

6. A head as claimed in claim 3 in which the body portion has an endface and the passageway comprises first and second portions, the firstportion =lying along the longitudinal axis of the body portion betweensaid end face of the body pontion and the transverse eye, and the secondportion communicating with the first portion and having its entrance onthe interior surface of the part of the body portion surrounding thefirst portion of the passageway and its exit on the external surface ofthe body portion at a point spaced along the external surface away fromthe entrance.

7. A head for use in performing the method of claim 1 comprising asubstantially cylindrical body portion having first and second endfaces, a transverse eye formed through the body portion and positionedsubstantially midway between the end faces of the body portion, and apassageway formed in the body portion, the passageway being independentof the transverse eye and having its entrance located centrally in thefirst end face of the body portion and its exit located on the curvedwall of the body portion at a position spaced along the curved wall ofthe body portion away from the entrance.

8. A head as claimed in claim 3 in combination with a preformed wiregrip to attach the stay wire to the head, the surface portions of thebody bounding the eye being curved to receive the preformed wire grip.

9. A head as claimed in claim 3 in combination with a stay rod, in whichthe upper end of the stay rod is rigidly attached to the 'body portionof the head.

10. A head as claimed in claim 3 in combination with a stay rod, inwhich the upper end of the stay rod is attached to the body portion ofthe head by means permitting the head to swivel around the axis of therod.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,258,140 3/1918 Pleister 52-1481,430,623 10/ 1922 Cornpbell 254-77 1,637,587 8/ 1927 Peltz 254-771,946,830 2/1934 Blackburn 24-123.1 2,071,694 2/1937 Howe 52-7412,291,649 8/ 1942 Roberts 24-123 2,792,560 5/1957 Bollmeier 24--l31 X3,080,631 3/1963 Ruhlman 24-131 3,323,185 6/ 1967 Maras 24-123 3,239,9003/ 1966 Bottoms 24-123 3,295,311 l/1967 Butz et al. 24-131 FRANCIS K.ZUGEL, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

